Jimmy Borzone fired the second no-hitter in Dixie State's NCAA era to highlight the Trailblazers' doubleheader sweep at Tarleton State on Friday afternoon at the TSU Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex. DSU claimed game one by a 5-1 count in seven innings, and held on for a 7-4 victory in the nine-inning nightcap. 

The Trailblazers (8-16/6-9 WAC) struck first in game one with two runs on three hits in the third. Mathew Ivancich doubled down the left field line to lead off the frame, then after a strikeout and wild pitch, Tanner Harper tripled to the gap in right center to drive in Ivancich carrying the game's first run. Kaden Hollow followed the sharp single back up the middle to plate Harper to extend the Blazer lead to 2-0.

Tarleton (9-19/2-9 WAC) got one of those runs back in the home third as the Texans loaded the bases with two hit batters and a walk off Borzone. Kemue Thomas-Rivera would get TSU on the board with a sacrifice fly with one out to cut the DSU advantage in half at 2-1.

That minor hiccup in the TSU third was all that Borzone (W, 1-3) gave up as he retired the final 14 Texans he faced to close out the no-hit bid. The junior finished with eight strikeouts, one off of his career-high, and threw 97 pitches on his way to his first complete-game victory.

Meanwhile, the Dixie State bats would tack on a run in the sixth and added two more in the seventh on a Hollow (5) home run to provide the final margin. DSU pounded out eight hits in the opener, with Hollow, Harper and Cade Spurlin each collecting two safeties apiece.

Prior to Borzone's day, Dixie State's only other no-hitter came nearly six years to the day on April 3, 2015, when former DSU hurler John Conquy blanked Fresno Pacific, 1-0, in a seven-inning road win.

In the nightcap, Dixie State ambushed the Texans for six runs over the first three innings to bolt to an early lead. The Blazers plated four runs in the opening frame, the first coming rather painfully when Jake Engel was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Lane Pritchard followed with a two-run single and after he stole third, Pritchard came home on a Spurlin groundout.

Harper padded the lead an inning later with his first homer of the year, a towering shot to left field, while DSU tallied its sixth run in the third when Engel scored on the back end of a snuffed out double-steal attempt.

The early run support bolstered the start for freshman righthander Ryan Hardman (ND), who retired six of the first seven Texan hitters he faced until an Ian Groves lead-off homer in the third got TSU on the board.

Tarleton continued to chip away at the Blazer lead with three more runs over the next two innings to pare the lead to 6-4, which ended the day for Hardman before he could get the final out in the fifth to qualify for the win.

DSU escaped the sixth with its two-run advantage intact and added to it in the seventh when Harper delivered a big insurance run with his second homer of the game. Meanwhile, the Trailblazer bullpen made the lead stand as four relievers combined to hold Tarleton scoreless on six hits over the final 4.1 innings to complete the Friday sweep.

Dixie State rapped out nine hits in game two as seven of the nine starting Trailblazers had at least one hit. Unfortunately one of the two DSU sluggers who was held hitless was Hollow, who saw his career high 14-game hit streak come to an end as the freshman finished the game 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.

Dixie State will go for its first D-I and WAC series win in Saturday's series finale beginning at 11 a.m. (CT).